Herc Says Ray Romano’s MEN OF A CERTAIN AGE Is Probably TNT’s Best Original Series Ever!!

I am – Hercules!! A TNT dramedy from “Everybody Loves Raymond” writers Ray Romano and Mike Royce, “Men of a Certain Age” stars Romano, Andre Braugher (“Homicide”) and Scott Bakula (“Star Trek: Enterprise”) as a trio of friends – a party supply store owner, a car salesman and a part-time actor – confronting mid-life crises. It may be TNT’s best original series to date. I already like it a good deal better than Romano’s long-running laughtrack sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond.” There’s a very dark gag early in the first episode involving a vehicular mishap that makes me want to cut “Certain” a lot of slack. Braugher is aces as always, and looks far heftier than I remember he did in “The Mist”; unless there are some digital effects or some very convincing prostheses at play, he seems to have outeaten Robert DeNiro, packing on a troubling amount of weight to play an unhappy, lethargic, diabetic overeater who finds himself pushed to new levels of frustration. (The series’ storyline appears to bring a new resolve to the character that might keep the actor from killing himself.) At times the series feels like a middle-aged “Diner” and at other times feels slightly overwritten; the comedy and drama might grow stronger if the project adopted the semi-improvisational approach we saw in “Diner” and still see “Friday Night Lights” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” I laughed hard at something as simple as Romano failing to guess the correct temperature; I’d love to see more of that kind of thing. I like this show well enough to watch its second and third episodes, even though I really didn’t have to and have a lot of other stuff to review. I deem it DVR-worthy. USA Today says:

… fine but slightly overemphatic premiere, which overdoes the sad-sackishness of its three main characters … There are big moments, but much of the joy comes from small exchanges and throwaway jokes. (Terry's response to Owen's dismissive "Pirates, pickpockets, what's the difference?" is a perplexed, "Well, there's the boat.") The show could do without the invented basic-cable-approved, almost-obscene insults, but the men do wield them affectionately. You may not recognize the words, but you'll recognize the tone and tenor of friends who know one another too well.

… not violent, exciting or fast paced, but the series has a quiet charm of its own: it is a believable, sharply observed portrait of ordinary men who, through all-too-common bad breaks and missteps, feel that they are backsliding. The three lead actors, on the other hand, are on top of their games playing losers. …

… Though there have been various attempts through the years to get at the easily identifiable and relatable midlife crises of men, much of the effort is put on cheap laughs and even cheaper clichés. TNT's new drama "Men Of A Certain Age" might be the closest thing to getting it right. … This isn't some "Bucket List" joke-fest. There's some spot-on and sharp humor throughout, but it never gets too light and breezy. There's an underlying seriousness - just shy of real gravitas - that anchors the series. If "Men Of A Certain Age" eschews the easy clichés as it has in the first few episodes, there's real potential for drama here …

… While it includes some predictable guy banter, especially in tonight’s uneven pilot, “Men of a Certain Age’’ is a probing, occasionally bleak drama that evokes indie director John Cassavetes more than “Sex and the City’’ creator Darren Star. The writers and actors steadfastly avoid TV-bred coziness, as they push further into the difficult trade-offs that make getting older so liberating and so demoralizing. The actors are especially willing to forgo leading-man vanity in favor of emotional vulnerability, with Braugher and Romano looking particularly wasted at times. … “Men of a Certain Age’’ does settle into a groove, and it’s a good one. …

I have no idea why Shotime didn't pick up Manchild (the pilot was pretty fucking funny) but there has been a gap in the networks for a show like this. I'm just surprised TNT were the ones to fill it.
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Male friends in their mid-life crisis 30-40's. It was probably pitched as a male equivalent of "Sex In The City".

Andre looked like the Michallin Man when he was in House recently. He's given into middle age gracefully lol. He's still one quality actor. Anyone ever see him in Homicide:Life on the Street? He was on fire in that series. His scenes in the interview room (the Tank?) were fucking amazing. The guy could get a confession out of a stone.

You shouldn't. And if you did, still, there's NO WAY anything in one episode is gonna outshine the comedic perfection that Boyle, Roberts, and Garrett brought to the table in what?...Nine seasons?...of the last great authentic sitcom. THEY carried that show, not Romano and Heaton.

"Diner" is one of favorite movies but what made it work beyond the improvisational/conversational scenes were the well-drawn characters and their individual arcs. Dialog is great but we need to care about the characters. Let's see if "Men" can do this.

Showtime tried a pilot, which wasn't picked up. That's not to say that the BBC style show couldn't work on the US television. Clearly TNT thinks it can.
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You can find the Showtime pilot online, and one of the 4 guys is played by Kevin "Clerks" Smith.

..check it out. But that's, admittedly, mostly because of Bakula. I never watched Everybody Loved Raymond - not one single time. The characters annoyed me enough in the promos that I knew it was something I wouldn't like.

There were just some seriously great comedic performances in that show and it's kind of a shame Peter Boyle was the only one who walked away with an Emmy. Also too bad that Brad Garrett moved into one of the worst sitcoms I have seen in ages. Saw ten minutes of "Til Death" and that was ten minutes too much.

...it may have been. I don't really get down on sitcoms. Didn't catch Friends until the second to last season. Still think Sienfeld was a waste of TV. Sitcoms for me were, like, Cheers and Family Ties. Even some of the Cosby Show seasons. Taxi or MASH in syndication. Newerish (yeah, that's right, newerish) sitcoms have never really done it for me.

When it was only about dumb husband being bitched at, it got lame, but Ray and his brother and his dad were damned hilarious at times.<p>Braugher guested on House recently and he did put on a lot of weight. Especially compared to his early "Homicide" days.<p>I do like the three leads on this show, but I think I'm ten or fifteen years away from being able to relate. But middle aged men whining about their problems is still more palatable then a teenage angst show.

I understand people don't like him but he is a lot more subtle here than in his sitcom. Still has limited range, but is definitely not the annoying Ray from the sitcom, and a post I saw on here was correct, Garrett, Roberts and Boyle carried Everybody Loves Raymond, if not for them, the show would have never lasted.

I'll set it on my DVR and give it a chance. I'm actually a few years past these guy but well remember those times. Those who didn't like Ray in his sitcom will be pleasantly suprised at his work here; in fact all 3 leads are doing some fine work. And I hope "fantasy girl" is a recurring character, she makes my man-parts happy!

wakes up in his hotel bed, next to the bloodied body of a bludgeoned hooker. "Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God..Oh shit Oh shit..Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God"...dials phone..."Hello Robert?"<p>Did really enjoy the first episode. Looking forward for things to darken up a little bit. I think Romano was a bit influenced by Mad Men, because of the small details and the little victories and trageides that make up real life. Glad to see a TNT series not involving cops, laywers or the medical profession.

They have three kids, two of which are twins, but you never see them taking care of them. Talk about fantasy. This series looks good, but I can't watch it. I don't get TNT. I'll have to wait until they're online.

First of all, when people copy your links they can just back out the space. However, I think it's AICN that alerted most of us to the beauty of www.tinyurl.com It will shrink your links and make them post as one line - no spaces.

I'm not in the mood to be depressed right now, so I kinda liked how it ended. The first episode felt like a short indie movie. It was complete, and it didn't need to have another episode. But if it did have one, the second episode is going to be the one where I decide whether to follow this series or not.

Are you fucking kidding me? It's Antiques Roadshow for mouthbreathing gimps. And it's on ALL. THE. FUCKING. TIME. Day or night. Flip through the channels and those chuckleheads are busy hustling some poor gambling addict from his family heirlooms. LCD much?

devoted to this show. Lazy Hercules seems content to devote space to reality trash, Amazon ads and ratings blurbs that provide no commentary. Seriously, Herc--have you become so lazy and uninterested that you think people like this?

I see previews for this all the time on TBS and apparently there doing a special presentation of it, even though it's on TNT. I was curious to see what AICN had to say about this and was shocked to read the headline, so I'm pretty excited to see it.
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I noticed it was created by Ray Romano and he is a comedic genius, so how bad can it be? Everybody Loves Raymond is still one of the funniest family sitcoms of all time. I hope his new show becomes just as successful and acclaimed, or at least one of the two...preferably acclaimed.

It's easily one of the best sitcoms of the last two decades, up there with Seinfeld, King of Queens, Arrested Development, The Office, etc.
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And yes, Roberts, Boyle, and Garret were fantastic, but Raymond was easily just as funny as them. He's got a fantastic sense of humor, and he is undoubtedly king of the one-liner. And Heaton was also quite good in her role, but her character did get annoying sometimes. And trust me, it was a good thing the kids presence in the show was very limited...that's what made the show as good as it was. It's like Raymond said in the episodes intro/opening credits..."Don't worry, it's not about the kids." Thank god for that.

Have a kid. Get divorced. Have our metabolism shut down. Get laid off. Hell..get laid. Live somewhere besides your first apartment or your parent's basement. Then you can understand this show. The CW awaits the rest of you. This show isn't fully realized, but it's got great potential. I want to see where this goes. And that's about the most you can want for good tv these days.

The other night on TV I caught the Ed Norton, Richard Gear movie gahhhhh always, always forget the name of movie. but anyway Andre Braugher was in it and holy shit he looked 30 years younger than he does now! he gotta lay of the fried chicken!